Fifth Circuit Last To Uphold OSHA's Multi-Employer Worksite Doctrine

Seyfarth Synopsis: We had blogged previously that OSHA appealed an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ruling that severely limited OSHA's Multi-Employer Worksite Doctrine and citation of a "controlling employer" general contractor. Acosta v. Hensel Phelps Constr. Co., No. 17-60543 (5th Cir. August 4, 2017). The Fifth Circuit has now reversed the ALJ, and upheld OSHA's Multi-Employer Worksite Doctrine.

In dramatic language, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (governing federal law in Texas, Mississippi, and Louisiana) announced, that "thirty-seven years ago, this court, in a tort case, announced that 'OSHA regulations protect only an employer's own employees'." Melerine v. Avondale Shipyards, Inc., 659 F.2d 706, 711 (5th Cir. 1981). That decision had endured despite the seismic shift brought about by Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837 (1984), and of broader employer liability under the Act. Acosta v Hensel Phelps Construction, No 17-60543 (5th Cir November 26, 2018). OSHA's Multi-Employer Worksite Doctrine enables the Agency to cite employers who are "controlling," "exposing," "creating," or "correcting" safety hazards. OSHA regularly cites general contractors as "controlling" employers with regard to hazards only faced by subcontractor employees.

In the instant appeal, the Court was asked whether OSHA has the authority, under either the Occupational Safety and Health Act, 29 U.S.C. § 651 et seq. (the Act), or regulations, "to issue a citation to a general contractor at a multi-employer construction worksite who controls a hazardous condition at that worksite, even if the condition affects another employer's employees." The Court concluded that OSHA does indeed have that authority under the Act.

Factually, an OSHA compliance officer conducted an inspection of the site and discovered three sub-contractor employees working at the base of an unprotected wall of evacuated soil. The contractor's and the subcontractor's superintendents were present at the wall, with full views of the subcontractor's employees working near the wall. OSHA cited both contractor and the subcontractor for willfully violating 29 C.F.R. § 1926.652(a)(1) for allegedly "exposing employees to a cave-in hazard from an unprotected excavation at a construction site."

The ALJ determined that the contractor met the requirements to be considered a "controlling employer" who had a duty under 29 U.S.C. § 651 et seq., to "act...